Sanitation Program Lead: Food Safety & Continuous Improvement

welchs; North East (Erie County); On-site; USD 110,000 - 115,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Paid Time Off

Volunteer Time Off

Career Development

Bonus Eligible

401K with match

Flexible Benefits

Health Insurance

Dental Insurance

Vision Insurance

Health Savings Account

Life Insurance

Accident Insurance

Employee Assistance Program

Tuition Reimbursement

Paid parental leave

Job summary

Welch's is seeking a hands-on Sanitation Program Manager to lead our plant sanitation strategy and execution. You will partner with Operations, Quality, Engineering, Maintenance and EHS to strengthen sanitation systems and improve equipment design, ensuring top food safety standards daily.

This leadership role focuses on training, continuous improvement, and cross‑functional collaboration to drive measurable sanitation performance across the site.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a technical field related to food or beverage manufacturing.
• 3–5+ years of progressive sanitation leadership in a food or beverage setting.
• Strong knowledge of sanitation chemistry, CIP systems, and sanitary equipment design.
• Experience with HACCP, GMP, SQF or other GFSI environments.
• Familiarity with Lean, RCA, CI and SPC concepts.

Responsibilities

• Lead and improve plant sanitation programs and pest control to meet food safety standards.
• Act as site SME for sanitation, providing cross‑functional leadership and troubleshooting.
• Develop, validate, and improve sanitation procedures and CIP systems.
• Train and coach employees on sanitation best practices, chemical safety, GMPs, and food safety.
• Drive CI initiatives to reduce waste, downtime, and improve cleaning effectiveness.
• Conduct sanitation audits, GMP inspections, and housekeeping assessments with corrective actions.
• Lead Environmental Monitoring and sanitation validation activities with robust documentation.

Education

Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Microbiology, Biology, Engineering, or related technical field

Tools

Lean Manufacturing

Root Cause Analysis

Continuous Improvement

Statistical Process Control

Job description

Welch's is seeking a hands-on Sanitation Program Manager to lead our plant sanitation strategy and execution. You will partner with Operations, Quality, Engineering, Maintenance and EHS to strengthen sanitation systems and improve equipment design, ensuring top food safety standards daily.

This leadership role focuses on training, continuous improvement, and cross‑functional collaboration to drive measurable sanitation performance across the site.